Electric compressors that integrally incorporate an inverter device are used as air conditioner compressors installed in electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, or the like. In an inverter-integrated electrically driven compressor, an inverter housing part is furnished on the outer periphery of the housing that houses a compressor and an electric motor that drives the compressor, and an inverter device that converts high voltage direct current power supplied from a power supply unit into three-phase alternating current power which is applied to the electric motor is arranged housed within the inverter housing part. Further, the inverter housing part is hermetically sealed by a cover.
The electric compressor for a vehicle air conditioner is normally installed in the engine compartment of the vehicle, but in the installed state it is frequently located where the cover that hermetically seals the inverter housing part can be accessed. In this case, it is possible to remove the cover without taking safety measures such as removing a connector of a power line that is connected to a high voltage power supply. Therefore, there is a danger that the cover can be removed while the power is still applied to the inverter device, and a high voltage part can be unintentionally touched.
Therefore, a technology is provided in Patent Documents 1 to 3 to ensure safety when removing the cover by providing an interlock mechanism that when the cover that seals the inverter housing part is removed by an operator in the case of maintenance of the inverter device or the like, the removal of another protective cover or an interlock plate furnished on the top surface of the cover automatically shuts off the power applied to the inverter device. Further, in Patent Document 4, a technology is provided in which a safety mechanism is furnished that disables removal of some of the fixing screws that fix the cover to the inverter housing part when the electric compressor is installed in the vehicle.